Second Chance Summer (Chance Series, #1) (5 page)

“You might not have mentioned it, but I can see it in those damn eyes of yours. I’m warnin’ you!”

“I was thinking more diving.” He grinned, grabbed my hands, and pulled me into the water with him. I screamed, kicking my way back to the surface.

“You!” I growled, staring at him angrily. I shook out my hair, and he grinned again, gripping my waist and pulling me into him.

“Don’t be mad, baby,” he purred. He kissed me, his lips wet against mine. I sunk my fingers into his hair, wrapping my legs around his waist, and forgot why I was mad at him.

“What?” I ask quietly, pulling myself back to today.

“You’re the one staring at me.”

“You’re not exactly looking at the surroundings, are you?”

“Are you scared?”

“Of what?”

He grins. A big, playful grin that instantly puts me on guard. “Of me doing this.”

His hand that’s behind my back is resting on my left hip; his body is suddenly against my side, and we’re flying off the platform into the water together.

I scream as I fall, screwing my eyes shut. I hear Reese’s loud laughter and feel both of his arms around me. My hands rest on his shoulders, and I push myself up out of the water.

I gasp, breathing in the fresh air. Reese surfaces, his grip on me tight, and he’s still laughing. I glare at him, but I’m not surprised. I should have known he’d pull a stunt like this.

“You douche!” I smack his shoulder. “I’m soakin’ wet!”

“I know.” He grins again.

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“No you’re not,” he says with way too much confidence.

“Why aren’t I?” I swim over to the dock and lean on it, my feet kicking gently.

He swims up behind me, leans next to me, and moves his mouth close to my ear. “Because you’re too busy tryin’ to calm the crazy beating of your heart.”

He’s right, dammit, he is. I wish he wasn’t, but my heart is going crazy and my hands are burning where I’m touching him.

“How do you know that?”

His hazel eyes find mine again as I turn my head toward him. I wonder if I’ll ever bore of looking in them.

“Because, baby, I’m doin’ the exact same thing.”

~

After Reese takes me home, I dry off and change. I make my way into the kitchen, my eye catching a small piece of paper on the kitchen table. I snatch it up.

Out. Sorry I missed you. See you soon. Mom

PS. There’s ten dollars in the drawer. Get some food.

I shake my head, screwing the ball of paper up. I throw it at the screen doors, turning and grabbing my car keys. Some things will never change… It’ll always be the alcohol before me. I can’t fight that battle anymore.

I slide into my car, pulling my sunglasses down over my eyes, and start the engine. It roars to life with an angry sound that matches my mood. I pull out of the driveway and head to Patty’s, planning on taking up her earlier offer of dinner.

The parking lot of the store is empty when I pull up, and a few stragglers are leaving the store. Patty closes for two hours for dinner, considering she opens late.

I give a halfhearted, cursory smile to the people I pass, and push open the door.

“We’re just about to-” She looks up. “Oh, Kia. What can I do for you, sugar?”

“Room for a little one for dinner?” I ask sheepishly.

“There’s always room for you in my house, darlin’.” She bustles past me, her round figure jiggling. “Lemme lock this darn door before another pain in the ass Alabaman comes in, and we’ll head on upstairs and get some food. Then you can tell me what’s brought you here.”

“Who says anything has brought me here?”

The key clicks in the lock, and she turns, shaking her brown hair out. Her gray eyes meet mine. “No-one needs to say it, darlin’. The eyes are the window to the soul, don’tcha know, and yours are showin’ me that there’s a whole lotta sadness in your little soul.”

“That obvious, huh?” I smile sadly, following her through the small door leading upstairs to her apartment.

Eric is plating the food up when I step into the bright yellow kitchen. The place is as cheery as the couple that live here.

“Plate up another chicken, Eric. Kia stopped by!” Patty orders him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replies, turning to wink at me. I smile gratefully and sit at the old oak table.

“Now, let’s get some food in ya then we’ll talk over what’s goin’ on in your head. Unless I’m mistaken, Reese Pembleton has somethin’ to do with it.” Patty puts a plate in front of me, and I refuse to meet her eyes.

“What on Earth makes you say that?” I ask, picking up my fork.

“Besides the fact you ain’t lookin’ at me?” She chuckles. “He came in here last week with his Momma, the day after you got back, and the boy was in outer space. He’s usually round this place like Roadrunner helpin’ Marcey, but not that day. No, sugar, I’m tellin’ you, you were on his mind, and I’d bet he’s been on yours.”

“I thought you said we’d get food then talk,” I mumble and start eating.

“We weren’t, but you got me started now, ain’t ya?” Patty shakes her head. “There’s somethin’ about Reese. He’s all bad boy with that darn tattoo and his devil may care attitude, but I don’t think that’s him.”

“Patty, let the girl eat,” Eric scolds her fondly.

“He’s a softie that one,” she continues on, oblivious to his comment. “All it needs is the right girl to bring it out in him.”

“Observant,” I mutter.

“Don’t you go startin’ with that New York City attitude on me, Miss James.” Patty points her fork at me. “I’m a southern belle and your city attitude got nothin’ on my small town one.”

“I’m a small town girl, too, Patty,” I remind her. “My attitude is as southern as they come.”

“Just as well,” Eric says. “You got her started now, Kia. You’re gonna be here a long time, girl.”

“I got a long time to kill.” I shrug a shoulder.

“Tell me about it,” Patty demands, starting to eat.

I sigh, setting my cutlery down. “You know what happened last summer? Well, before I left, we… Yeah.”

“By “yeah,” I presume you mean you slept together?”

My cheeks flame. Patty is way too old to be talking about this to. Holy crap.

She clicks her tongue. “Can’t keep nothin’ from me, Kia.”

“Yes,” I mutter. “We slept together, and then I left for college. But it ain’t that simple. You know when you meet someone, and there’s that spark?” Patty and Eric nod. “Well, I guess it was kinda like that with us. It still kinda is. My car had to go to Adam’s for repairs; I saw Reese and I ended up getting dragged to Rock’s on Saturday with Luce. He kinda… Kissed me.”

“How can you kinda kiss someone?”

“Okay. He did kiss me. Better?” I raise an eyebrow. Patty nods, waving her hand for me to continue. “And then this morning my phone rings. I answer, and turns out he’s sitting outside my dang window, up a tree, asking me if I’m busy.”

Eric laughs loudly. “He was up a tree outside your window?”

I nod. “He was. We went to the lake behind his, spent the day there.”

“So what’s the problem?” Patty asks. “I don’t get you kids nowadays. When I was a kid, if we wanted someone, we just went for it. None of this messin’ about you lot do.”

“The problem is I don’t wanna end up like my momma.” I sigh.

“And you think fallin’ in love with Reese Pembleton would make you like your momma?” Patty slams her cutlery down. “Listen to me, Kia James. Just ‘cause you’re her daughter don’t mean you gonna be like her. Your momma is the way she is because of a reason-“

“That reason is my daddy,” I say quietly. “Because he left.”

“Why did he leave, hmm? Did she ever tell you?”

“No. She never did.”

“Then don’t you go holdin’ back until you know the reason.” Patty’s eyes hold knowledge I want, but I’m afraid to ask for it. “You ask your momma why he left. Don’t punish that boy o’ yours because of that, Kia.”

“I’m not punishing anyone. I’m protecting
myself.
”

“Are you? Are you protectin’ yourself or are you just runnin’ from somethin’ that could be beautiful? Hmm?” Patty’s eyebrows are so high they’ve practically disappeared under her hairline.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” I chew some chicken. “Reese has an almost-girlfriend. We can be friends. That’s all.”

“You can’t ever be friends with the person your heart cries out for, and you definitely can’t be friends with the person whose heart cries out for you, too. That ain’t the way it works,” Eric comments absently.

I grunt, and focus back on my food. Why couldn’t I just stay at home?

CHAPTER 4

Silence.

That’s another thing New York City is lacking in. It never sleeps – there’s never any peace, never any time to stop and think. Its go go go, never ending busyness. The small town girl inside is glad to be back in Alabama. Here, lying on my back in the yard, it’s easy to think about never leaving. Easy to consider enrolling in the community college and packing New York in.

Then I remember everything. I remember that college is my escape.

“So why didn’t you come back?”

I jolt and push myself into a sitting position, my glasses slipping slightly.

“What?” I look at Reese, shocked by both his sudden appearance and blunt question.

He crosses his arm against his chest as he leans against the tree where the tire swing is. “You never said. I mean, I’ve asked, but you never replied.”

“What does it matter? I’m back now, aren’t I?”

“I know that. But why didn’t you come back before? Didn’t you think anyone would notice?”

I can’t help but scoff. “This is Harlan Grove, Reese. Of course people would have noticed, but that doesn’t mean they’d care.”

His eyes are set on mine, his gaze steady and unwavering. “I cared,” he says honestly. “I cared a damn lot. Why didn’t you come back, Kia? Why?”

“Why do you care, Reese? We both know what we had is over.” I stand, unable to look at him anymore. I know it’s because it hurts too damn much, but I can’t admit it. And I sure as hell can’t let him see it.

“Because it’s you.”

“That’s not an excuse, Reese. That’s like asking a toddler covered in chocolate if they enjoyed it.”

“But it’s the truth, and the truth is better than an excuse.”

“Okay, I’ll humor you.” I turn, folding my arms across my chest. “Why because of me? You’ve probably been through a hundred girls since I left, and oh, there’s also Hana. So why would you care?”

He walks across the yard, his assured steps swallowing it up in seconds. He jumps onto the porch inches from me, so close I can feel his breath across my face.

He murmurs, “Because it’s you, baby. Because it’s always you.”

Standing here, so close to him, looking into his gold-flecked, hazel eyes, feeling his breath flutter across my lips, it’s so tempting to give in. It would be so easy to fall into his arms right now and let him take away the fact I was putting my mom to bed at 3am because she’d passed out on the floor.

It would be so easy to give him everything.

“That doesn’t explain anything,” I reply, making to move.

“Doesn’t it?” he asks, his hand reaching out for mine. He takes it, linking our fingers together slowly, the roughness of his hand a stark contrast against the softness of mine. His dark tan the opposite of my light one. “I think it explains everything, because for all the questions in the world, you’re the only answer.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

“Ask me anything,” he suggests. “Go on. I guarantee the answer is you.”

“Why are you here?”

“Because of you.”

“Why don’t you give a damn about Hana?”

“Because of you.”

“What happened a year ago, happened. Things have changed since. Why won’t you let it go?”

“Because of you.”

And now for the million dollar question.

“Why does it matter so much to you that I didn’t come back at Christmas?”

He blinks, his other hand resting under my jaw. His thumb traces across the crease of my bottom lip and along my cheek toward my ear.

“Because it’s you. I was goin’ damn crazy without you. I took the easy way out. I should have gone to New York and found you, but I didn’t. I stayed here like an ass, every day thinking that tomorrow would be the day you’d come back to the Grove. I wanted you for ages; you know that. You had to know that after last summer. Every free second was all about us, what we did have and what we could have had. I had you, Kia. I thought once would be enough. But it isn’t. Not with you. One night or one summer… It’s just not enough for me.”

I heave in a breath, my legs shaking. I step back, breaking the contact between us. “You know that’s all it could ever be. We have two different lives. You’re here and my life is in New York. Nothing can happen.”

He clenches his jaw, and I turn away. “Don’t run, Kia.”

“I’m not running,” I whisper over my shoulder.

“Yeah, ya are! You ran last summer. You didn’t have to leave for another week, but you left here the morning after! You ran, and you’re doin’ it again. And you know why? It’s ‘cause you can feel it too, you can feel it’s more than sex, more than a simple summer romance. It’s been a year since I saw you last and I want you just as damn much as I did then! Hell, baby, I can’t see anything other than you. I can’t think about anything other than you. What do you want me to do, Kia?”

“I want you to leave it alone,” I lie.

“Nah, you don’t. You want that magic of last summer back, when there was nothing that mattered except us. I know deep down you want nothing more than to turn around right now and grab me and kiss me the way you used to. You want to remember was it was like not to have a care about anything other than the person right in front of you. You want it as much as I do. I want to wake up each morning knowing you’re mine and I’m yours. I want you to fall asleep in my arms again just so I can hold you and kiss your forehead. We both know you want everything I do. You’re just better at hiding it than I am.”

He’s pushing. He just keeps on pushing, and I have to give in. I’ll give him what he wants. I turn so I can see him. So I can look him in the eyes.